Real Stories Project

03/14/10: Man, 40, assaults boy, 13


WBBM News


June 23, 2007

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- An Illinois police officer pleaded guilty Friday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to having sex with a 13-year-old boy in Dubuque.

Donald Rager, 40, of far north suburban Grayslake, faces up to 80 years in prison and a $750,000 fine, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Bob Teig.

Rager spent 20 years in law enforcement. Until 2005, he provided security to Grayslake Central High School District 127, Grayslake Police Chief Larry Herzog told the Chicago Tribune. He most recently was a part-time officer in Oakwood Hills, Ill.

Rager met the boy through an Internet chat room, according to court records. Rager took him to a Dubuque, Iowa, hotel on Feb. 12, 2006, and had sex while Rager video-recorded them, prosecutors said. Rager also showed the boy other videos of men having sex with minor boys.

The boy reported the incident in April. Rager was arrested May 18 after arriving in Dubuque to meet the boy again.

Rager pleaded guilty to two counts of crossing state lines to engage in sexual conduct with a minor, one count of producing child pornography and one count of transporting child pornography across a state line, Teig said.

A sentencing date in Cedar Rapids federal court has not been set.